ASPECTS

a monthly devotional journal
by David Lampel

Issue No. 120

November 2000

10th Anniversary Issue

TO FILL MYSELF WITH SO MUCH OF GOD

You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of
joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 nkjv

The church building in which I was raised, so long ago ground into the
dust of civic and architectural improvement, was (oddly for the
Midwest) built in a "Spanish mission" style, with twin towers on
either side of the main entrance and all overlaid in stucco. The main
sanctuary was bordered on two sides by small stained-glass windows, in
which were emblazoned the names of early saints, remembered by their
friends and families. The third side of the sanctuary consisted of
huge wooden sliding doors that could be either a wall, for
normal-sized crowds, or opened to reveal an auxiliary room full of
chairs, for larger congregations.

Ranged across the back of this large room was a series of alcoves that
had been used as Sunday School rooms in earlier days of the church.
During my childhood the center one of these alcoves had been
transformed into the church library.

If one was young and easily distracted, and if one was looking for an
out-of-the-way corner in which to while away the very long minutes of
a church service, one could find no better haven than that small
alcove filled with books.

My favorite book in that collection was a large coffee table-sized
volume filled with photographs of the frescoes painted into the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I'll not deny a young boy's fascination
with the book's voluptuous displays of flesh, but what held my
interest as well were the faces, and the extravagant body language
given the saints and angels by Michelangelo. The figures--meant to be
viewed from far below--were, in the close-up views in the pages of the
book, twisted into fantastical, even grotesque shapes. Limbs and
torsos danced to a tormented, almost macabre tune; eyes bulged from
sockets; and just about everyone in the paintings seemed to be either
angry or afraid. I was at once fascinated with and repelled by the
images of Adam and Eve giving in to the serpent's temptation, then
being expelled from the Garden; the damned souls suffering the anguish
of hell; the frantic escape from the rising waters of the Deluge.

Most fascinating of all was the dramatic central image of God the
Father giving life to Adam. Here was the sublime gift of creation--a
personal, and profoundly intimate expression of God's generosity and
grace. Yet even here the face of God seemed hard: not necessarily
angry, but stern. There is no joy to be found in the face over His
inventive creation. Here was a God it was easy for a young boy to
fear.

It was difficult reconciling the angry God in those glossy pages with
the beatific visage looking down at me from the Sunday School wall.
The portraits of Jesus were warm, peaceful, gentle and calm. He did
not condemn; He did not punish, but invited all to "come unto" Him.
Jesus healed the sick and comforted the poor. He laughed and wept, and
seemed to have the same range of emotions as I. Yet I was taught that
Jesus was as much God as the one I saw portrayed on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel. How could it be?

As I grew up and learned that even humans were more complex than their
simple, well-groomed portraits, I also came to realize that my God was
far more complex than the simple, warm-hearted portraits of His Son
that had decorated my Sunday School walls. At the same time, I
understood that any God able to work with and command the complexities
of my own life, must surely be something greater and more interesting
than the hard-faced portraits painted into the ceiling of that Vatican
chapel. Any God who could orchestrate the creation of the universe,
yet also stoop to know and save me, could not possibly be faithfully
rendered in paint and wet plaster--regardless the artistry of the one
wielding the brush.

He must surely be someone with an intellect more detailed, a
personality more gentle and profound, a sense of Himself beyond the
fleshy, muscular tyrant spread across the pages of a library book.
These images did not square with the One who had permeated my
heart--nor did they fit the person I read of in the pages of His own
book.

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do
not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy, 1 Peter 1:8

A COSMIC LOVE AFFAIR

The process of filling oneself with God is, essentially, participation
in a grand, cosmic love affair that spans all time and all space--yet
is carried out and chronicled in the tender privacy of the human
heart. Just as we are surrounded by the invisible tempest of
angelic/demonic conflict, we have at our disposal--yet rarely
apprehend--the invisible fullness of an eternal, omnipotent God.

"Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us
are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O
Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the
servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and
chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:16-17

Most people are so firmly, even desperately attached to the pragmatic
and tangible loam of earth that they remain blind to the spirit world
ranging all about them. And, unaware of that, they remain blind to
much of what God has to offer their temporal life.

The brain belongs to the earth, but the mind belongs to the spirit.

From the beginning of man's existence, God has condescended to
minister to him on the earthly plane. One need not rise into the
heavenlies to meet God; He is pleased to meet man where he lives. But
God is not of the earth; He only meets with man here for man's
benefit. God is spirit, and dwells in a spiritual place. For man to
apprehend the fullness of what God has to offer, he must release his
hold on the familiar and dare to soar in spiritual realms.

"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to
what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our
testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not
believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" John 3:11-12

I observe with respect the man who is hired to excavate around the
foundation of our house. I watch him expertly move the earth, then
make repairs to the cement wall that not only supports the floors
above, but keeps out soil and moisture from the floor below. I respect
the man's skills, his dedication to his craft. But then I wonder: In
this man's mechanical world of toil and sweat, is there time left for
the spirit? As he feeds his body for labor, does he feed his mind as
well? He knows soil and cement, gravel and sand. He can fashion them
all into structures of permanence--walls and sidewalks that will last
for decades. But has he so fashioned his eternity? Is his spiritual
mind as alive and expert as the brain that holds all his earthly
knowledge?

Filling oneself with God is a process that begins in the mind. Or you
may prefer to call it the heart.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his
love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5

Regardless the terminology or imagery, God is at the center of it all.
The engine that drives the process--from both ends--is His Spirit. To
know the mind of God we must first link up with Him, and remain in
contact for His Holy Spirit to pour into our mind and heart copious
helpings of the Father Himself.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole
family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of
his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his
Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and
established in love, may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of
Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-- that you
may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

A MATTER OF TRUST

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust
in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit Romans 15:13

Every student/teacher relationship represents a transaction of trust.
Every time an individual sits under the tutelage of a superior, a
certain level of trust--even faith--is implicit. And the older the
student, the more explicit is the level of trust.

When I was a child attending Franklin School, I had one teacher for
all day, for the whole year. And short of my parents moving to a
different school district, there was nothing I could do about it. My
teacher for fourth grade was wonderful; the one for third grade even
more so. But the hideous shrew I had for fifth still gives me
nightmares. As a child, I had no say in their selection. Even in
junior high and high school, where I could select my subjects and have
a different teacher for each, I had no say in which one I got. Nor
could I choose to leave; even if by a certain age I could legally drop
out, my parents would never have permitted it.

But if, as an adult, I were to sign up for a night class on, say, "How
to be a Better Writer in Five Easy Lessons," I am more in control. If
on that first night I observe that the teacher is a blithering idiot
who has nothing new to teach me, I always have the option of leaving
the class--or, if one is available, switching to a different
instructor. It's a matter of trust: A teacher's role is to fill the
student's life with knowledge, wisdom, and superior experience. If the
student finds that the instruction of the teacher cannot be trusted,
then he or she will have to leave--or look for a different teacher.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God
has prepared for those who love him"-- but God has revealed it to
us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep
things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man
except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received
the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we
may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we
speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught
by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 1 Corinthians 2:9-13

If I am to let God fill me with His wisdom and life, I have no other
option than to go to Him. There is only one teacher of that
curriculum--only one source. My only other option is to reject the
instruction. I can drop out.

And many do. Like self-absorbed, short-sighted teenagers who drop out
of school because they "don't need to know that," the church is
populated with many who reject the outpouring of God's fuller life.
Some get sidetracked by the vernacular; when phrases such as "the
indwelling," "being filled with the Spirit," or (even scarier)
"baptized by the Spirit," are bandied about, they elect to opt out,
rather than tread mystical paths.

No matter the various dressings of tradition or doctrine, it all boils
down to the same thing: being filled more with God.

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose
sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may
gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my
own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in
Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I
want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in him
in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from
the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have
already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for
which Christ Jesus took hold of me Philip. 3:8-12

Like many other teenagers and young adults, I passed through a period
of rebellion. It was a time when I rejected the wisdom and instruction
of my earthly father, declaring them to be both insignificant and
immaterial. Happily, before he went to live with my heavenly Father, I
realized the utter stupidity of that position and spent good,
productive times filling myself with more of my dad's life, learning
more about his history, more about what lay in his heart.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

It is a matter of trust. Filling ourselves with more of God is as
profound, yet as simple and direct as that. It is as direct as
deciding who we will trust; it is as simple as putting down our
busyness to spend quiet time with Him. It means getting out of the
kitchen and curling up at His feet.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village
where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a
sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what
he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that
had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care
that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to
help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried
and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary
has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from
her." Luke 10:38-42

God and the spiritual world are real. We can reckon upon them
with as much assurance as we reckon upon the familiar world
around us. Spiritual things are there (or rather we should
say here) inviting our attention and challenging our trust.
Our trouble is that we have established bad thought habits.
We habitually think of the visible world as real and doubt
the reality of any other. We do not deny the existence of the
spiritual world but we doubt that it is real in the accepted
meaning of the word.
The world of sense intrudes upon our attention day and night
for the whole of our lifetime. It is clamorous, insistent and
self-demonstrating. It does not appeal to our faith; it is
here, assaulting our five senses, demanding to be accepted as
real and final. But sin has so clouded the lenses of our
hearts that we cannot see that other reality, the City of
God, shining around us. The world of sense triumphs. The
visible becomes the enemy of the invisible, the temporal, of
the eternal. That is the curse inherited by every member of
Adam's tragic race.
At the root of the Christian life lies belief in the
invisible. The object of the Christian's faith is unseen
reality. A.W. Tozer

TAKEN AS A WHOLE

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not
stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the
knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and
understanding. Col. 1:9

When we're ready to get serious about it, there are two essential
components to the process of filling up a life with God. First we must
admit our need of the filling. A life full of itself has very little
room left for God. Like the alcoholic that has hit bottom, we must
face the fact that we need more of something greater than ourselves.
For the believer, that something is God Himself.

There is no human substitute for the power and ministry of the
Godhead. The most intelligent earthly scholar cannot replace a
Christian's time spent in the word; the most compassionate, wise
counselor cannot replace the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Both
temporal resources can be valuable, even vital, but neither can be
used in place of direct contact with our God.

So each individual must reach a place where he or she admits the need
for God--as much of Himself as He is willing to pour into their life.

Once this obstacle is breached, we face another decision: will God be
permitted in unfiltered. We live in a world that is big on filters.
The practice goes by many high-sounding names--the more common of
which would be "post-modernism" or "relativism." Different from
healthy discernment, this is the practice of rejecting absolute truth
in favor of a self-defined truth. The habit of the members of this
contemporary society is to filter out anything unpleasant--to reject
anything that challenges the individual's personal belief system.

Near our home in San Diego (where we lived for twenty years), there
was a "soup and salad" restaurant. Here one paid a flat fee, then
helped oneself to a bounty of salad fixings and a selection of
homemade soups. The salad bar in this restaurant was probably fifty
feet long, double-sided, and replete with every imaginable companion
to the chilled plate.

When we would visit, I would begin with the basics of lettuce,
tomatoes, carrots, onions and grated cheese--passing by the pickled
beets and cucumbers. Moving further down the line, I would grab a
large spoonful of the crab salad, but pass by the three-bean salad;
the potato and macaroni salads were favorites, but not the grated
carrot; the creamy Jell-O and pineapple salad (the one put together
with whipped cream) would be added to my plate, but not the one
containing raisins; finally, a dressing would be selected from the
many available.

From the salad bar, one would move on to the simmering pots of soup. I
would usually pass up the vegetable or chili and help myself to a bowl
of hearty turkey noodle. Across from the soups were the breads--fresh
baked and still warm from the oven. The muffins were a favorite,
usually choosing the apple-nut over the cornbread--unless, of course I
was having chili, in which case the cornbread would be the perfect
companion. Later I would return to sample the slices of cheese pizza
or sweet almond cakes, but never anything that contained coconut.

And finally, after everything else had been consumed, I would waddle
over to the final station for a small dish of chocolate or tapioca
pudding, not wasting my time on the more healthy cubes of red Jell-O.

This is the kind of pick-and-choose relationship some Christians have
with God. They move down the line, pushing their tray before them,
selecting only those parts of Him they think they'll like. "Let's see,
I'll have some of that grace and forgiveness--but I think I'll pass on
the correction. How about just a little light Sunday School--but none
of that heavy Bible study. And give me plenty of that 'old-time
religion'--but go easy on the conviction and wrath. For dessert, I
believe I'll have a large helping of that love and compassion--hold
the holiness."

To be truly filled with God we must take all of Him. We cannot pick
and choose what we want of God. He is not broken down into
compartments, bins filled with His various character attributes, bins
from which we may select or reject. He is of a piece, unified,
inseparable. He is to be taken as a whole.

Some people will say, "I'm comfortable with Jesus, but God the Father
is too intimidating." But Jesus said

"If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now
on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show
us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered:
"Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such
a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can
you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the
Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are
not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is
doing his work." John 14:7-10

Jesus was only a physical representation of God's true character. If
we are drawn to the Christ as our compassionate Savior, we must
remember that His compassion has come from the Father. If we love Him
for His sacrifice, we must remember that that same sacrifice began at
the Father. Like Abraham, it was He who placed His only Son upon the
altar. Jesus, in His death, demonstrated no greater love than did the
Father.

What God in His sovereignty may yet do on a world-scale I do
not claim to know. But what He will do for the plain man or
woman who seeks His face I believe I do know and can tell
others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to
exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his
powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and
humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have
hoped in his leaner and weaker days.

Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will
break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and
will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will
be delighted with what he finds there.

Let us say it again: The universal Presence is a fact. God is
here. The whole universe is alive with His life. And He is no
strange or foreign God, but the familiar Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ whose love has for these thousands of years
enfolded the sinful race of men. And always He is trying to
get our attention, to reveal Himself to us, to communicate
with us. We have within us the ability to know Him if we will
but respond to His overtures. We will know Him in increasing
degree as our receptivity beomes more perfect by faith and
love and practice. Tozer

And so the yearning strong,
With which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace,
Till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.Bianco da Siena

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PeriodicalsAspects is our monthly devotional journal. This
eight-page publication has been published since 1990--via the Internet
since 1994.
Frequency: Monthly
Editions: Print, Ascii, Pdf

Seeds of Encouragement is published every Monday morning as
a brief, simple reminder of God's presence in our lives.
Frequency: Weekly
Editions: Ascii

Reflections by the Pond offers thoughtful considerations of life,
nature, and the world in which we live from a Spiritual perspective. It
is published every Wednesday.
Frequency: Weekly
Editions: Ascii

Songs for the Heart is our newest offering, published
every Friday. This brief devotional includes thoughts based on hymns,
choruses, or psalms.
Frequency: Weekly
Editions: Ascii

Dramatic ResourcesAt the His Company web site visitors will find a
complete catalogue of dramatic and musical resources that both
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All scripts and worship resources are included in their entirety,
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Completed WorksAlso available at our web site are several completed resources,
including...

In Unison is a 19-article series on worship--written especially
for worship leaders and the choir.
Editions: Ascii, MSWord

Knowing... is a series of brief devotionals for understanding
the God of heaven through the lives of those who called upon His name.
Editions: HTML